Masks
by Soyna
Summary: Vincent has become comfortable with the masks that he no longer has to wear.


By: Albedosreqium / Soyna

**Warnings and Genre:  
**Fluffy in nature. Yaoi but mild, Valenwind. If you don't like it then I recommend that you do not read any further than this line.

**Setting:**  
After Dirge and Advent is all said and done.

**Disclaimer  
**All related Final Fantasy names and characters are copyrighted by the almighty Square Enix©.

**Summary:  
**Based on this pic completed by 13thcatofthegate who won a contest on Deviant art and her prize is that I write a story based of this awesome pic. It is my pleasure to do so.

* * *

**MASKS**

* * *

Cid looked Vincent up and down and then frowned. His normal attire suited him and he looked good in his normal overprotective clothing, but as he examined the man in the light of the day on the deck of the _Highwind_, he noted how it was not going to suit the plans that were in store for them tomorrow. Cid liked the leather and the cape - it was Vincent, after all. But the fair in the Kalm gardens was a spring fair and the weather was supposed to be bright and sunny with lots of balloons, flowers and pinwheels; not gothic gates, gargoyles and ghosts.

Mr. Black-Leather-Gold-Metal-Claw-And-Face–Hidden-In-His-Cowl-Of-A-Tattered-Red-Cape would not fit in with the warm spring atmosphere at all. They weren't going to the Haunted Mansion at the Gold Saucer, where he was often asked how long he had been on staff.

"Ya can't go like that," Cid said as he tugged on Vincent's cape.

"Pardon?" Vincent said simply and raised an eyebrow.

"It's a fair."

Vincent sighed softly. "I'm aware of the activity. What does that have to do with my attire?" Vincent said and looked a little annoyed.

"It's gonna be a warm an' sunny day and yer wearin' leather armour," Cid said and rubbed his hand through his hair.

Vincent furrowed his brow. "Why would that matter?"

Cid sighed. "It's all up to ya, eh," he said, "but I would rather see ya enjoy yerself out there than go an' hide on us."

"I'm only going because Marlene asked me to join," Vincent said. "She insists that I need to win her one of those stuffed animals in the shooting games."

Cid smiled and rubbed the back of his head. He knew Tifa had asked the girl to use her talent at talking with Vincent to convince him to go. He knew if he would have asked, Vincent would have found excuses not to go and Cid didn't know how he would be able to explain to him why he wanted him to join them. He couldn't just tell the guy he liked his gloomy-ass around.

"Ya can't go around lookin' like yer part of the carnival crew." Cid regretted having said that as Vincent scowled at him and his shoulders tensed.

"And what would you have me wear? I do not have a large variety of clothing to choose from." He stood stiffly and wrapped the cape tightly around himself. He found nothing wrong with his clothes.

"We can get us some more appropriate clothin' in town before the others arrive. I can't go gallivantin' in these either." Cid pointed down to his trademark clothing of his cargo pants and blue T-shirt.

Vincent looked like he was going to protest when he saw Marlene come barrelling around the corner. The little girl was wearing the outfit that she was going to wear tomorrow. It was a pale green dress that had pink flowers printed on it. Her hair was braided in two thick braids that were tied off with large, fake white flowers.

"Vincent!" she yelled and ploughed into him. "I can't wait for tomorrow."

"I can tell," Vincent said as he patted her head with his normal hand and made sure that his claw was not going to accidently touch her.

She giggled. "You can't be wearing this cape."

"Pardon?"

"You can't dress like that to the flower festival. You need to wear something light and sunny."

Vincent frowned. "Light and sunny?"

"Yep. Well ... how about something not torn or leather," she said as she looked up at him with eyes that only little girls have. "You don't need to scare the people at the gun booth," she said with a smile and then darted off as Denzel called out to her.

Vincent gave a sigh as he pressed the cape around him. The charms of a little girl always won. Cid couldn't help but smile. He couldn't have planned it any better if he had asked her to do it himself.

* * *

"This 'ill do ya," Cid said as he handed Vincent over a bag of clothes. Vincent eyed it tentatively and then looked at the new clothes that Cid was wearing.

"Aw, I wouldn't pick out somethin' embarrassin' fer ya," Cid said.

Vincent couldn't help but to wonder what Cid would have brought him. He was a little worried with entrusting the Captain with the job of purchasing him clothing.

"It isn't a frilly girl dress, if that's what yah been thinkin'."

Vincent snorted and found himself staring at Cid. He looked so different in the spring festival clothes.

"What?" Cid said. "I don't look funny, do I?"

He didn't look funny, but he did look different.

His top was the same light blue that he normally wore for his T-shirt, but the white cotton pants and sash made him look completely different - younger. The collar of the shirt dipped in a 'V', which showed a hint of his muscular chest.

He had even shaved and the stubble that he wore across his face revealed smooth and soft-looking skin. He wasn't wearing his goggles, and his blond hair was tussled wildly about his head.

He wondered for a moment where he was stashing his ever-present smokes when the outfit didn't look like it had any pockets. It looked good, but it made him worry that Cid may have picked out something similar for him.

Cid was even wearing sandals. The pants only went just past his knees so that his hairy calves were revealed and his feet were in a simple pair of clogs.

He tentatively opened up the bag and was immediately relieved to see that it wasn't the same colours, but the familiar colours of red and black.

"I wanted ya ta be comfortable."

He smiled at the contents. "Thank you, Cid."

"Now, get changed so we can get goin'. Marlene's been drivin' everyone nuts," Cid said as he left the room to allow Vincent to get changed.

* * *

Vincent felt remarkably naked without his leathers and cape. The clothes were thin cotton and surprisingly light, even if they did cover him adequately. He couldn't seem to get the black sash that kept the red top snugly held to his body tight enough. His chest felt bare with the V-neck design, and having the short pants also was odd. His feet felt light without his brass boots that normally armoured them. Cid had provided him with sandals in the bag.

He took off his normal head scarf for the occasion and he was still adjusting to his hair being loose around his face without being hindered by the normal headdress; he didn't realize his hair was that long.

He felt bare without his gun but he couldn't wear it strapped to his leg and he knew that the others were going to be without their weapons. It was a fair, after all, and not a battle.

"Sure took ya long enough."

Cid was standing in the at the bottom of the _Highwinds_ ladder with a cigarette ready to be lit in his mouth and a lighter in his hand. Marlene was standing patiently beside him examining a butterfly that was flying by.

"Yeah! Mr. Valentine!" Marlene said and ran forward before he could even respond to Cid. She grabbed his un-gauntleted hand and dragged him forward.

"I wanna win the stuffed Tonberry! It's so cute." She bounced as they walked. Cid followed behind them as Vincent allowed himself to be led by the little girl.

He was dragged into the strange and noisy environment. Everyone was wearing bright and light clothing. People were yelling at each other, but there was always laughter in the shouts. Children were running around with various trinkets or food items, not being hindered by the adults who were allowing them to run free.

Vincent felt naked as he walked. He knew people were looking at him and he felt a little out of place. He liked how his cloak had always been a comfort and these light clothes were making him feel exposed. He didn't like the people looking at him and was a little nervous as he walked towards the booth where Marlene wanted him to win the prize.

Booths were crowded everywhere. A mixture of fried foods, twisted sugar and rigged carnival games. Men and women yelled from the booths trying to get the attention of the people in attendance.

Marlene bounced back to him and grabbed his arm. "Over here, Mr. Valentine."

He allowed himself to be lead to the booth where a rather large man greeted him with a smile that was full of teeth.

He listened to the man behind the booth ramble about the game and Marlene bounced as she was looking at the giant stuffed creature. He didn't understand the attraction, but if it would make the girl happy, he could hardly argue.

"You just need to hit three chocobos that will run across the stage. You start from the small and work your way up to the large," the man babbled on and on in the manner of salesmen. "Wouldn't want to disappoint your little girl!"

Vincent didn't bother to correct the man as he examined the flimsy gun that he was supposed to use to hit the paper targets. He noted that he would have to do this twenty times to win her that large prize.

"You can do it, right?" Marlene said and tugged at his arm. The man behind the counter was making it sound difficult and was starting to brag about how much of a challenge it was to even get a medium size prize.

"Of course," Vincent said and lifted the remarkably light gun that was full of small pellets. It felt odd to have another type of gun in his hand other than Cerberus.

The guy behind the counter held out his hand and Marlene handed over some money. He frowned at that, but she just smiled up at him.

"Cloud gave me money for the last delivery I helped with and this is what I want to spend it on." She pointed to the impossibly large Tonberry and smiled. It was nearly as big as she was.

He looked at the array of various cut-out rainbow-coloured chocobos that were being pulled on belts underneath the stage. They were making a low whirring sound as they jerked across the target area. He knew that this could be rigged and he would have to be careful with his shots. He didn't want Marlene to be spending any more money than she needed to, to get the silly stuffed monster.

"Aim for the gold one," Marlene announced. "You get double the points for that." She bounced around him as she pointed to the golden cut-out of the chocobo. It was substantially smaller than the others.

This was not going to be a challenge for him.

* * *

Cid watched how serious Vincent became while he was shooting at the cardboard chocobos. Marlene bounced around him like she was already full of sugar and kept looking up at the green plushy that she had been pining for all week.

He finished his smoke and looked around at the small carnival. He normally wasn't into such things, but it had been two years of peace and two years where they didn't have to defend the planet from another catastrophe. It was Tifa that had announced this a month ago. She wanted everyone to get together and not worry about a battle. It was a good idea and he liked it.

He would have preferred to go to the bar and just hang out, but this was turning out to be a nice affair.

There were a lot of people around and a lot of people gathering over by one of the carnival games. He wandered over and smiled at the sight of Cloud and Denzel standing facing each other in a fighting stance.

Denzel had grown into quite a strapping teenager in the last couple years and was almost as tall as Cloud. He had teased Cloud about how he was going to outgrow Cloud in a year and got a frown from the blond hero and a smug grin from the boy.

They stood facing each other as if they were about to battle. Cloud was not wearing his sword but held a foam replica foam sword in front of him, and from their experiences on the battle field it was a rather sloppy fighting stance for the expert fighter.

Cloud's laughed as Denzel gave a dramatic yell and lunged toward Cloud with his own foam sword. Denzel was making a valiant effort to hit Cloud but the swordsman easily moved away from the boy's clumsy attempts as Denzel staggered past him.

Cloud laughed and twirled the foam blade but it did not look nearly as graceful as it did when he used his real sword. The crowd cheered Cloud and a few yelled at Denzel not go give up.

Denzel tried again and Cloud gave a dramatic whirl to avoid the advancing teen before he turned back and bopped the sword on the top of his head. The crowd cheered again as Denzel just tried to tackle Cloud instead of trying to beat him as his own game.

He noticed that a lot of prizes at the fair had something to do with the people that had saved the Planet a few times. There were models of the _Highwind_ and _Shera_ that could be won at a ring toss game, small versions of Cait Sith sat on display at another carnival game that involved dice. He looked over at another booth and nearly burst out laughing at the prizes at one of the booths.

He was not expecting to see such a thing at the carnival, but he couldn't resist playing the game to win a few of the trinkets that grabbed his attention.

* * *

Marlene was dwarfed by the soft green plushy and she absolutely beamed as she hugged it to her chest. "Thanks so much, Vincent!" She crooned as she spotted Cloud and Denzel and went running over to them, yelling, 'Doink!' as she went.

Vincent didn't bother suppressing a smile as she did so.

It was good to see that she was doing so well despite all that she had been through in the past. It was good to see that all of them were doing so well and not dwelling on the past.

"Boo."

He turned to see a strange sight that startled him. He reached for his gun that wasn't there but stopped when he realized who he was seeing. It was Cid but he was wearing an odd mask. It looked familiar.

"I gotta couple of 'em," Cid drawled as he lifted it off his face and handed it to him. "Betcha never thought ya thought ya'd see your demons' faces on another, eh?"

It never dawned on Vincent that the mask was one of the guests that resided inside him. He looked at the one that rested in Cid's hair and plucked it off him. It was Hellmasker's face that had been drawn onto pieces of thin plastic and tied with elastic.

"They got all yer other guys too," Cid said and pointed over to a booth. Indeed there were other masks that resembled the demons that he had never seen face to face, but only upon reflection.

"I was tryin' to win 'em fer ya, but got distracted with the goldfish toss with that pesky ninja," Cid said as he held up a small bag with a goldfish in it. "Dunno know what I'm gonna do with the little bugger."

Vincent nodded but was distracted easily by the other masks that were hanging there. It was a simple game of throwing the ring over the bottleneck. He could do that easily to gain his other personas without the need of a transformation.

He felt Cid reaching up and putting something on his face. He grinned as he felt the mask descend.

"I'd much rather see ya with this type of mask," Cid said and started to walk over the bottle toss.

"I'm quite curious where they got the images from," Vincent said as he held the four visages of himself.

Cid scoffed. "I bet it's the same place that they got those little pesky robots over there."

He followed to where Cid was pointing to the table of small robotic black and white cats with yellow crowns.

Vincent shook his head and pushed up the mask that Cid placed on him and held up the others. The one that resembled Chaos was nestled in his hair; the one that was silent inside of him, if he was even still there.

"You should talk to Reeve about royalties."

He turned when someone spoke from behind to see Cloud and Tifa now standing beside him. Cloud was looking at the foam replica of his sword.

"He has taken liberties with my sword as well."

Vincent noted that Cloud had three more of the swords on his back of the foam variety that all resembled Zack's sword. Tifa was holding the large Tonberry and the two children seem to be holding foam replicas of Cid's spear.

"I see," Vincent said as he touched the mask that was sitting on his head. He felt a small bit of comfort having it there. He held two others and was surprised that he liked them. "Was Reeve supposed to be attending this fair?"

Tifa nodded and smiled brightly. It was good to see the woman smiling for a change. Now that things had settled down, she was a much happier woman than she had ever been before in the past. "He will be here for the dinner tonight. We can give him hell then for licensing our stuff without our knowledge."

"Abso-fuckin'-lutely! Those kids got my Venus Gospel, dammit!" Cid snarled and chewed on a piece of grass that Vincent didn't remember Cid having picked up, but it was much nicer to see than a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"Well, it's a better weapon than a pinwheel!"

Yuffie appeared behind Cid and plucked a purple and green pinwheel that had been tucked into the white sash that Cid wore. Cid started to curse but Tifa quickly silenced him with a glare only a woman could give.

"You should take yer goddamn fish!" Cid hollered after the ninja who was now bouncing around with the children.

They all started to make their way back to the inn, but Vincent chose to wait behind. He was not in a hurry and the day in the crowds of people was starting to get to him a little bit. It wasn't as bad as in the past, but he still felt the need to have some time alone. He was going to look for a place to have some quiet but noted that Cid wasn't leaving him. Cid had Hellmasker's face still pushed up into his hair, but held a large grin on his face.

"I think I know why Tifa got us all 'ere," Cid said as he chewed on the long piece of grass.

"And what is that?" Vincent asked as he moved to stand beside a booth where the game was done for the day or the person manning was on a break.

"Didn't ya see that ring on 'er finger?" Cid said. "I think Cloud finally said somethin' and is makin' an honest woman out of 'er."

That would explain why she wanted everyone there and made such a big deal about everyone coming to this event. He knew that Tifa had used Marlene to get him to come and knew that he couldn't refuse a little girl.

"That would make sense," Vincent said. That would explain why she was so happy too. He was glad that they were finally at peace with their past.

He still had days where he didn't know if he was going to be able to overcome the obstacles that were in front of him. Those obstacles were like the ones he had in the mask.

"Did ya have fun today?" Cid asked and gave him an expectant look. "I know that this isn't yer normal cup-o-tea, but ya seemed to be havin' a good time."

"I did have a good time," Vincent said honestly. It was a lot more enjoyable than he thought it was going to be.

Cid beamed. "An' gettin' out of those stuffy leathers of yers has done ya some good too. Yer almost like a different person."

"Oh," Vincent said. He didn't feel like he was much different of a person. He was the same as he always had been.

"Yeah," Cid said and spit the straw out. "Ya smiled and ya didn't run away when people were talkin' to ya." Cid pulled out his pack of smokes. "And ya didn't scare anyone either."

"I don't scare people," Vincent said defensively.

"Naw. Well, ya sure as 'ell intimidate them," Cid said as he lit up a smoke.

"I don't think I have ever intimidated you," Vincent said coolly.

Cid had always been the type that had been right in a person's face about things. He had always admired that in the man. It was nice to see someone that wasn't afraid to take life on.

"Nope, not a bit," Cid said and smiled around his cigarette, "Glad ta see ya tryin' it for a change."

He raised an eyebrow to that.

"Yer gettin' out more. Two years ago, there's no way in 'ell I woulda been able to get ya outta that stuffy armour of yers," Cid said and blew a smoke ring. "Ya wouldn't have won that silly girl that stuffed monster or smiled when she went runnin' 'round with it, an' two years ago ya wouldn't have been wearin' those silly masks that look like yer demons."

Vincent looked at the masks in his hands. Cid was right. Two years ago he would not have been this open to all of this. He had always been a quiet type of man even before his world was joined by demons. He would not have embraced them as openly as he was doing now.

He would not be holding these masks if the demons controlled his life as they once did.

"It appears so," he said.

"See! Gotcha to smile again!" Cid proclaimed and threw his arm around his shoulder. "I'm kinda hopin' that you'd come 'round more often an' all. Looks like there's gonna be a weddin' an' all. Would be nice if ya could be around."

Vincent dipped his chin but without the cowl of his cloak he could not hide his amused smile. "Are you asking me out on a date for the wedding?"

Cid faltered, his cheeks flushed with a vivid red and his mouth gaped so wide that he almost lost the cigarette which clung to his lip. Vincent enjoyed the stunned look on his face as he continued to walk forward to where the announcement was surely going to be made.

He stopped after a few steps to see that Cid was blinking furiously as he was looking like he was trying to say something. Cid stood there with his mouth agape and his eyes wide open, unaware that a family had to walk around him as he stopped dead in his tracks. Vincent always did like the company of Cid as it made events more enjoyable and tolerable having the man around.

Cid looked like he finally found his words but Vincent decided that it would be best to see if he could make him stammer more.

Vincent removed the mask that was on his head and joined it with the others in his hand. He ran his free hand through his hair and smiled that smile he had been holding back. "I wouldn't say no."

The effect on Cid was stunning.

Cid's face turned red, his eyes blinked rapidly and the cigarette fell from his mouth. It was a shame that he couldn't get him to be speechless more often. It was quite becoming.

It would not have mattered if Vincent placed one of the masks to hide his smile he was no longer able to suppress. Cid was unable to see the smile as Vincent continued to stand in shock, as he began to walk away to join the others at the inn where Tifa was about to make the announcement."


End file.
